Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The next Genre Reading Group meeting will be on Tuesday,
January 31st at 6:30pm in the Library’s conference room and the topic up for
discussion will be climate science. If
you’re uncertain where to start, there is a selection of nonfiction titles and
documentary films available to choose from at the 2nd floor reference desk.

GRG met this week for one of our biannual Salons and it was
a boisterous discussion!

Of all the glamorous stars of New York high society, none
blazes brighter than Babe Paley. Her flawless face regularly graces the pages
of Vogue, and she is celebrated and adored for her ineffable style
and exquisite taste, especially among her friends—the alluring socialite Swans
Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill. By all
appearances, Babe has it all: money, beauty, glamour, jewels, influential
friends, a prestigious husband, and gorgeous homes. But beneath this elegantly
composed exterior dwells a passionate woman—a woman desperately longing for
true love and connection.

Enter Truman Capote. This diminutive golden-haired genius with a
larger-than-life personality explodes onto the scene, setting Babe and her
circle of Swans aflutter. Through Babe, Truman gains an unlikely entrée into
the enviable lives of Manhattan’s elite, along with unparalleled access to the
scandal and gossip of Babe’s powerful circle. Sure of the loyalty of the man
she calls “True Heart,” Babe never imagines the destruction Truman will leave
in his wake. But once a storyteller, always a storyteller—even when the stories
aren’t his to tell.

Truman’s fame is at its peak when such notable celebrities as Frank and Mia
Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, and Rose Kennedy converge on his glittering Black and
White Ball. But all too soon, he’ll ignite a literary scandal whose
repercussions echo through the years. The Swans of Fifth Avenue will
seduce and startle readers as it opens the door onto one of America’s most
sumptuous eras.

In 1995, Iowa native Bill Bryson took a motoring trip around
Britain to explore that green and pleasant land. The uproarious book that
resulted, Notes from a Small Island, is one of the most acute portrayals
of the United Kingdom ever written. Two decades later, Bryson—now a British
citizen—set out again to rediscover his adopted country. In these pages, he
follows a straight line through the island—from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath—and
shows us every pub, stone village, and human foible along the way.

Whether he is dodging cow attacks in Torcross, getting lost in the H&M on
Kensington High Street, or—more seriously—contemplating the future of the
nation’s natural wonders in the face of aggressive development, Bryson guides
us through the old and the new with vivid detail and laugh-out-loud humor.
Irreverent, endearing, and always hilarious, The Road to Little Dribbling is
filled with Bill Bryson’s deep knowledge and love of his chosen home.

We expect our judges to be honest and wise. Their
integrity and impartiality are the bedrock of the entire judicial system. We
trust them to ensure fair trials, to protect the rights of all litigants, to
punish those who do wrong, and to oversee the orderly and efficient flow of
justice. But what happens when a judge bends the law or takes a
bribe? It’s rare, but it happens.

Lacy Stoltz is an investigator for the Florida Board on
Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a cop, and it is her job to respond to
complaints dealing with judicial misconduct. After nine years with the Board,
she knows that most problems are caused by incompetence, not corruption. But a corruption case eventually crosses her desk. A
previously disbarred lawyer is back in business with a new identity. He now
goes by the name Greg Myers, and he claims to know of a Florida judge who has
stolen more money than all other crooked judges combined. And not just crooked
judges in Florida. All judges, from all states, and throughout U.S.
history.

What’s the source of the ill-gotten gains? It seems the
judge was secretly involved with the construction of a large casino on Native
American land. The Coast Mafia financed the casino and is now helping itself to
a sizable skim of each month’s cash. The judge is getting a cut and looking the
other way. It’s a sweet deal: Everyone is making money. But now Greg wants to put a stop to it. His only client is
a person who knows the truth and wants to blow the whistle and collect millions
under Florida law. Greg files a complaint with the Board on Judicial
Conduct, and the case is assigned to Lacy Stoltz, who immediately suspects that
this one could be dangerous. Dangerous is one thing. Deadly is something else.

The unforgettable New York Times best seller
begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their
control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written
with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of
family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and
three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of
slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.

Effia and Esi are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana.
Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial
rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is
imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others
into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where
her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows
Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and
Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other
thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the
South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt
City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem,
right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral,
and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity
came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

In the winter of 1885, decorated war hero Colonel Allen
Forrester leads a small band of men on an expedition that has been deemed
impossible: to venture up the Wolverine River and pierce the vast, untamed
Alaska Territory. Leaving behind Sophie, his newly pregnant wife, Colonel
Forrester records his extraordinary experiences in hopes that his journal will
reach her if he doesn't return--once he passes beyond the edge of the known
world, there's no telling what awaits him.

The Wolverine River Valley is not only breathtaking and forbidding but also
terrifying in ways that the colonel and his men never could have imagined. As
they map the territory and gather information on the native tribes, whose
understanding of the natural world is unlike anything they have ever
encountered, Forrester and his men discover the blurred lines between human and
wild animal, the living and the dead. And while the men knew they would face
starvation and danger, they cannot escape the sense that some greater,
mysterious force threatens their lives.

Meanwhile, on her own at Vancouver Barracks, Sophie chafes under the social
restrictions and yearns to travel alongside her husband. She does not know that
the winter will require as much of her as it does her husband, that both her
courage and faith will be tested to the breaking point. Can her exploration of
nature through the new art of photography help her to rediscover her sense of
beauty and wonder?

The truths that Allen and Sophie discover over the course of that fateful year
change both of their lives--and the lives of those who hear their stories long
after they're gone--forever.

Set in Denmark in the darkest days of World War II, The Second Winter is a cinematic novel that, in its vivid portrayal of a family
struggling to survive the German occupation, both captures a savage moment in
history and exposes the violence and want inherent in a father's love.

It is 1941. In occupied Denmark, an uneasy relationship between the Danish
government and the Germans allows the country to function under the protection
of Hitler’s army, while Danish resistance fighters wage a bloody, covert battle
against the Nazis. Fredrik Gregersen, a brutish, tormented caretaker of a
small farm in Jutland laboring to keep his son and daughter fed, profits from
helping Jewish fugitives cross the border into Sweden. Meanwhile, in
Copenhagen, Polina, a young refugee from Krakow, finds herself impressed into
prostitution by Germans and Danes alike. When Fredrik steals a precious
necklace from a helpless family of Jews, his own family’s fate becomes
intertwined with Polina’s, triggering a ripple effect that will take decades
and the fall of the Berlin Wall to culminate.

He can’t leave his hotel. You won’t want to. From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a
transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life
inside a luxury hotel

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a
Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand
hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of
erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an
attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are
unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances
provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully
rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates
the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a
man of purpose.

The bestselling author of Schindler’s List and The Daughters of Mars returns with a remarkable novel about the friendship
between a quick-witted young woman and one of history’s most intriguing
figures, Napoleon Bonaparte, during the final years of his life in exile on St.
Helena—hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “insightful and
nimble...consistently fresh and engaging...call[ing] to mind the giants of 19th
century fiction.”

In October 1815, after losing the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was
banished to the island of Saint Helena. There, in one of the most remote places
on earth, he lived out the final six years of his life. On this lonely island
with no chance of escape, he found an unexpected ally: a spirited British girl
named Betsy Balcombe who lived on the island with her family. While Napoleon
waited for his own accommodations to be built, the Balcombe family played host
to the infamous exile, a decision that would have devastating consequences for
them all.

In Napoleon’s Last Island, “master of character development and period detail”
(Kirkus Reviews) Thomas Keneally recreates Betsy’s powerful and complex
friendship with the man dubbed The Great Ogre, her enmities and alliances with
his remaining courtiers, and her dramatic coming-of-age. Bringing a shadowy
period of history to life with a brilliant attention to detail, Keneally tells
the untold story of one of Europe’s most enigmatic, charismatic, and important
figures, and the ordinary British family who dared to forge a connection with
him.

Elmwood Springs, Missouri, is a small town like any other,
but something strange is happening at the cemetery. Still Meadows, as it’s
called, is anything but still. Original, profound, The Whole Town’s
Talking, a novel in the tradition of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and
Flagg’s own Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven, tells the story of Lordor
Nordstrom, his Swedish mail-order bride, Katrina, and their neighbors and
descendants as they live, love, die, and carry on in mysterious and surprising
ways.

Lordor Nordstrom created, in his wisdom, not only a lively town and a
prosperous legacy for himself but also a beautiful final resting place for his
family, friends, and neighbors yet to come. “Resting place” turns out to be a
bit of a misnomer, however. Odd things begin to happen, and it starts the whole
town talking.

With her wild imagination, great storytelling, and deep understanding of folly
and the human heart, the beloved Fannie Flagg tells an unforgettable story of
life, afterlife, and the remarkable goings-on of ordinary people. In The
Whole Town’s Talking, she reminds us that community is vital, life is a
gift, and love never dies.

In 1969, while a cultural revolution swept through the free
world, there was still one place that refused to change with the times:
newsrooms. Good Girls Revolt follows a group of young female researchers at
"News of the Week," who ask to be treated fairly. Their revolutionary
request sparks convulsive changes and upends marriages, careers, sex lives,
love lives, and friendships. Based on the book The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace by Lynn Povich.

A bio-series of the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, Southern
Belle turned flapper, writer and icon of modern feminism. Starting right before
Zelda meets unpublished writer F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1918, Z dives into the
fascinating life of a woman ahead of her time and the story of the most famous,
and infamous, couple of the Roaring 1920s.

A riveting portrayal of one of the most dramatic and
turbulent times in English history. A story of love and lust, seduction and
deception, betrayal and murder, it is uniquely told through the perspective of
three different, yet equally relentless women - Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret
Beaufort and Anne Neville. In their quest for power, they will scheme,
manipulate and seduce their way onto the English throne. A sequel series is in production, titled The
White Princess. Based on novels in Phillippa
Gregory’s Cousins' War series of novels.

The true story of novelist William Faulkner's heartwarming
relationship with a young boy named Bobby Little, who grew up in Oxford,
Mississippi. The book opens with Faulkner taking the five-year-old Bobby
up in his airplane. They fly just above the treetops over Oxford, over the Ole
Miss campus, and over the surrounding countryside giving the young boy a
wondrous view of the world laid out before him.

In the years that followed, Faulkner taught Bobby not only
how to fly the plane, but perhaps more importantly, how to view the world in a
unique way. The William Faulkner that Bobby Little came to know and love
through the years is quite a different character than the one put forth in
academic manuals about the author s life. Above the Treetops presents
the real William Faulkner - the flesh and blood character who,
despite all his eccentricities and weaknesses, was a kind, caring, and
adventurous soul, especially as seen through the eyes of an admiring child.

Award-winning author Jack Sacco interviewed Dr. Bobby Little
now a retired ophthalmologist, age 82, living in Gulfport, Mississippi at
length to gather the facts as he remembered them and to gain
never-before-revealed insights into the true world of William Faulkner. This is not another tired treatise on Faulkner's work as
interpreted by those who never met the man. It is, instead, a true and magical
story set in the deep South, revolving around one of the world s most famous
and yet most private people.

Inspired by true events, The Revenant is an immersive and
visceral cinematic experience capturing one man's epic adventure of survival
and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. In an expedition of the
uncharted American wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo
DiCaprio) is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by members of his
own hunting team. In a quest to survive, Glass endures unimaginable grief as
well as the betrayal of his confidant John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). Guided by
sheer will and the love of his family, Glass must navigate a vicious winter in
a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption. The Revenant is directed and
co-written by renowned filmmaker, Academy Award (R) winner Alejandro G.
Iñárritu (Birdman, Babel). (C) Fox

--NOAA archaeologists have discovered the battered hulls of two 1800s whaling ships over 140 years after they and 31 others sank off the Arctic coast of Alaska in 1871. Abandonment of the whalers in the Arctic Ocean, September 1871, including the George, Gayhead, and Concordia. Scanned from the original Harper’s Weekly 1871. (Credit: courtesy of Robert Schwemmer Maritime Library)

The Crown is a biopic drama television series
streaming on Netflix. The show is a biographical story about the early reign of Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The first season, comprising 10
one-hour episodes, was released in its entirety on 4 November 2016. Reception
to the series was overwhelmingly positive, with critics praising cast
performances, direction, writing, cinematography, production values, and
relatively accurate historical accounts of Queen Elizabeth's reign. A second
season has been commissioned.

Experience the tumultuous saga
of young King Henry VIII, featuring Golden Globe® winner Jonathan Rhys-Meyers,
and witness the king’s near-40-year omnipotent and bloody reign, infamous
marriages, and controversial decisions that led to the deconstruction of the
Roman Catholic Church in 16th Century England.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The next Genre Reading Group meeting will be on Tuesday, December
27 at 6:30pm. Join us for one of our
biannual Salon Discussion, where there is no assigned topic. Bring whatever you’d like to share with the
group! The library will be on holiday hours
and will close at 6 but I will be here to let you in and share books with you!

The threat of weather dampened (if you’ll forgive the pun) attendance
tonight, but several people emailed their selections to me and my 3 year-old
godson made a surprise visit to GRG (who knew he had such a love and
knowledge for films that won awards for Best Animated Feature?) so here we go
with Academy Award-winning films! (all review blurbs are from
www.rottentomatoes.com)

In the hilarious new animated-adventure, Ratatouille, a rat
named Remy dreams of becoming a great chef despite his family's wishes and the
obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When
fate places Remy in the city of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated
beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite
the apparent dangers of being an unwanted visitor in the kitchen at one of
Paris' most exclusive restaurants, Remy forms an unlikely partnership with
Linguini, the garbage boy, who inadvertently discovers Remy's amazing talents.
They strike a deal, ultimately setting into motion a hilarious and exciting
chain of extraordinary events that turns the culinary world of Paris upside
down. Remy finds himself torn between following his dreams or returning forever
to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship,
family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a
chef.

Mel Gibson, long-time heartthrob of the silver screen, came
into his own as a director with Braveheart, an account of the life and times of
medieval Scottish patriot William Wallace and, to a lesser degree, Robert the
Bruce's struggle to unify his nation against its English oppressors. The story
begins with young Wallace, whose father and brother have been killed fighting
the English, being taken into the custody of his uncle, a nationalist and
pre-Renaissance renaissance man. He returns twenty years later, a man educated
both in the classics and in the art of war. There he finds his childhood
sweetheart Murron (Catherine McCormack), and the two quickly fall in love.
There are murmurs of revolt against the English throughout the village, but
Wallace remains aloof, wishing simply to tend to his crops and live in peace.
However, when his love is killed by English soldiers the day after their secret
marriage (held secretly so as to prevent the local English lord from exercising
the repulsive right of prima noctae, the privilege of sleeping with the bride
on the first night of the marriage), he springs into action and single-handedly
slays an entire platoon of foot soldiers. The other villagers join him in
destroying the English garrison, and thus begins the revolt against the English
in what will eventually become full-fledged war. Wallace eventually leads his
fellow Scots in a series of bloody battles that prove a serious threat to
English domination and, along the way, has a hushed affair with the Princess of
Wales (the breathtaking Sophie Marceau) before his imminent demise. For his
efforts, Gibson won the honor of Best Director from the Academy; the movie also
took home statuettes for Best Picture, Cinematography, Makeup, and Sound
Effects. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi

Forrest Gump (Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role,
Best Director, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing)
(released 1994)

"Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump
(played by Tom Hanks in an Oscar-winning performance) as he discusses his
relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite
his sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with a ringside seat for
many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century.
Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a
football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets
Lyndon Johnson, speaks at an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs
out with the Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets
Richard Nixon, discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a profitable
shrimping business, becomes an original investor in Apple Computers, and
decides to run back and forth across the country for several years. Meanwhile,
as the remarkable parade of his life goes by, Forrest never forgets Jenny
(Robin Wright Penn), the girl he loved as a boy, who makes her own journey
through the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s that is far more troubled than
the path Forrest happens upon. Featured alongside Tom Hanks are Sally Field as
Forrest's mother; Gary Sinise as his commanding officer in Vietnam; Mykelti
Williamson as his ill-fated Army buddy who is familiar with every recipe that
involves shrimp; and the special effects artists whose digital magic place
Forrest amidst a remarkable array of historical events and people. ~ Mark
Deming, Rovi

Widely regarded as a comedy in 1960, The Apartment seems
more melancholy with each passing year. Jack Lemmon plays C.C. Baxter, a
go-getting office worker who loans his tiny apartment to his philandering
superiors for their romantic trysts. He runs into trouble when he finds himself
sharing a girlfriend (Shirley MacLaine) with his callous boss (Fred MacMurray).
Director/co-writer Billy Wilder claimed that the idea for The Apartment stemmed
from a short scene in the 1945 romantic drama Brief Encounter in which the
illicit lovers (Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson) arrange a rendezvous in a
third person's apartment. Wilder was intrigued about what sort of person would
willingly vacate his residence to allow virtual strangers a playing field for
hanky panky. His answer to that question wound up winning 6 Academy Awards,
including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. The
Apartment was adapted by Neil Simon and Burt Bacharach into the 1969 Broadway
musical Promises, Promises. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Fox's follow-up to Seventh Heaven, The Street Angel reunited
stars Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor with director Frank Borzage. The action
begins in Naples, as poverty-stricken Maria (Gaynor) steals medicine for her
ailing mother. Now a fugitive from justice, Maria escapes by joining a
travelling carnival, where she meets and falls in love with portrait painter
Angelo (Charles Farrell). Impressed by her ethereal beauty, Angelo asks the
girl to pose for his portrait of the Madonna. But when she's suddenly arrested,
the disillusioned Angelo sinks into depravation. Released from prison, Maria
sees her portrait in a church and is inspired to seek out Angelo. Explaining
the circumstances of her arrest, Maria saves Angelo from his sordid
surroundings, inspiring him to return to painting -- and, not surprisingly, to
propose marriage. Heavily influenced by the "Germanic" style then in
vogue, Street Angel lacked the simplicity and sincerity of Sunrise but managed
to post a profit all the same.

The first part of his "paranoia trilogy," Alan J.
Pakula's 1971 thriller details the troubled life of a Manhattan prostitute
stalked by one of her tricks. Investigating the disappearance of his friend Tom
Gruneman (Robert Milli), rural Pennsylvania private eye John Klute (Donald
Sutherland) follows a lead provided by Gruneman's associate Peter Cable
(Charles Cioffi) to seek out a call girl who Gruneman knew in New York City.
The call girl is Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda), an aspiring actress who turns
tricks for the cash and to be free of emotional bondage. Klute follows Bree's
every move, observing the city's decadence and her isolation, eventually
contacting her about Gruneman. Bree claims not to know Gruneman, but she does
reveal that she has received threats from a john. As Bree becomes involved in
Klute's search and realizes that she is in danger, she reluctantly falls in
love with Klute, despite her wish to remain unattached to any man. When she
finally comes face to face with the killer, however, she is forced to
reconsider her detached urban life.

Both highly suspenseful and deeply emotional, ROOM is a
unique and touching exploration of the boundless love between a mother and her
child. After 5-year-old Jack (Jacob Tremblay) and his Ma (Brie Larson) escape
from the enclosed surroundings that Jack has known his entire life, the boy
makes a thrilling discovery: the outside world. As he experiences all the joy,
excitement, and fear that this new adventure brings, he holds tight to the one
thing that matters most of all--his special bond with his loving and devoted
Ma.

L. Frank Baum's classic tale comes to magisterial
Technicolor life! The Wizard of Oz stars legendary Judy Garland as Dorothy, an
innocent farm girl whisked out of her mundane earthbound existence into a land
of pure imagination. Dorothy's journey in Oz will take her through emerald
forests, yellow brick roads, and creepy castles, all with the help of some
unusual but earnest song-happy friends.

Gone With the Wind (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematogrphy (Color), Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction) (released 1939)

Gone With the Wind boils down to a story about a spoiled
Southern girl's hopeless love for a married man. Producer David O. Selznick
managed to expand this concept, and Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel,
into nearly four hours' worth of screen time, on a then-astronomical
3.7-million-dollar budget, creating what would become one of the most beloved
movies of all time. Gone With the Wind opens in April of 1861, at the palatial
Southern estate of Tara, where Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) hears that her casual
beau Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) plans to marry "mealy mouthed"
Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland). Despite warnings from her father
(Thomas Mitchell) and her faithful servant Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), Scarlett
intends to throw herself at Ashley at an upcoming barbecue at Twelve Oaks.
Alone with Ashley, she goes into a fit of histrionics, all of which is
witnessed by roguish Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), the black sheep of a wealthy
Charleston family, who is instantly fascinated by the feisty, thoroughly
self-centered Scarlett: "We're bad lots, both of us." The movie's
famous action continues from the burning of Atlanta (actually the destruction
of a huge wall left over from King Kong) through the now-classic closing line,
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Holding its own against
stiff competition (many consider 1939 to be the greatest year of the classical
Hollywood studios), Gone With the Wind won ten Academy Awards, including Best
Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), and Best
Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American to win an
Oscar). The film grossed nearly 192 million dollars, assuring that, just as he
predicted, Selznick's epitaph would be "The Man Who Made Gone With the
Wind." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Growing up together in 19th-century Yorkshire, Heathcliff
and Cathy form a deep bond. In young adulthood, Cathy wounds the penniless
Heathcliff by marrying into wealth, and his obsession with revenge leads to
tragedy. Laurence Olivier is brilliant as the brooding Heathcliff in this
poetic adaptation of Emily Bronte's novel.

My 3 year old godson Henry visited the boardroom while I
waited for participants and so I engaged him in his first bookclub discussion, on
the various merits of the relatively recent Academy Award for Best AnimatedFeature.

He said he did not like Shrek (the first recipient in 2001)
because it was scary.

Once upon a time, in a far away swamp, there lived an ornery
ogre named Shrek whose precious solitude is suddenly shattered by an invasion
of annoying fairy tale characters. There are blind mice in his food, a big, bad
wolf in his bed, three little homeless pigs and more, all banished from their
kingdom by the evil Lord Farquaad. Determined to save their home--not to
mention his own--Shrek cuts a deal with Farquaad and sets out to rescue the
beautiful Princess Fiona to be Farquaad's bride. Accompanying him on his
mission is wisecracking Donkey, who will do anything for Shrek... except shut
up. Rescuing the Princess from a fire-breathing dragon may prove the least of
their problems when the deep, dark secret she has been keeping is revealed.

He said his mom’s (she was not so enthusiastic when I asked her about it) favorite movie on the list was Happy Feet
(2006),

In the world of the emperor penguin, a simple song can mean
the difference between a lifetime of happiness and an eternity of loneliness.
When a penguin named Mumble is born without the ability to sing the romantic
song that will attract his soul mate, he'll have to resort to some fancy
footwork by tap dancing his way into the heart of the one he loves. Directed by
Babe mastermind George Miller, Happy Feet tells the tale of one penguin's quest
for love, and features an all-star cast of vocal talent that includes Robin
Williams, Hugh Jackman, Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, and Brittany Murphy. ~
Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Featuring the voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel,
"Frozen" is the coolest comedy-adventure ever to hit the big screen.
When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist,
teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on
an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, the Snow Queen, and put an end to
her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf,
Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the
elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction. (c) Disney

Once one of the world's top masked crime fighters, Bob
Parr--known to all as "Mr. Incredible"--fought evil and saved lives
on a daily basis. But now fifteen years later, Bob and his wife--a famous
superhero in her own right--have adopted civilian identities and retreated to
the suburbs to live normal lives with their three kids. Now he's a
clock-punching insurance claims adjuster fighting boredom and a bulging
waistline. Itching to get back into action, Bob gets his chance when a
mysterious communication summons him to a remote island for a top-secret
assignment.

He got VERY excited about Toy Story 3 (2010) (I can neither
confirm nor deny that there may have been some confusion with the first Toy
Story)

"Toy Story 3" welcomes Woody, Buzz and the whole
gang back to the big screen as Andy prepares to depart for college and his
loyal toys find themselves in... daycare! These untamed tots with their sticky
little fingers do not play nice, so it's all for one and one for all as plans
for the great escape get underway. A few new faces-some plastic, some
plush-join the adventure, including iconic swinging bachelor and Barbie's
counterpart Ken, a thespian hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants and a pink,
strawberry-scented teddy bear called Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear.

Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King
Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Determined to carve
her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious
lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh
(Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane). Merida's
actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns
to an eccentric old Witch (Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated
wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery
in order to undo a beastly curse before it's too late. -- (C) Disney

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

The next Genre Reading Group meeting will be Tuesday,
November 29th at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion will be
Academy Award-winning films. The display
on the second floor currently contains Best Picture winners, but it can be a
film that has won an Academy Award in ANY category from Best Directory to Best
Visual Effects…whatever, you get to pick!
Last week, GRG discussed cookbooks. My thanks go out to Amanda for
handling the meeting while I was under the weather!

The Farmette Cookbookdocuments
Imen McDonnell's extraordinary Irish country cooking journey, which began the
moment she fell in love with an Irish farmer and moved across the Atlantic to
County Limerick. This book's collection of 150 recipes and colorful stories
chronicles nearly a decade-long adventure of learning to feed a family (and
several hungry farmers) while adjusting to her new home (and nursing a bit of
homesickness). Along the way she teaches us foundational kitchen skills and
time-honored Irish traditions, sharing wisdom from her mother-in-law and other
doyennes of Irish cooking. We learn the ritual of Sunday lunch, pudding, and
tea. We go along with her on wild crafting walks--the country version of
foraging for wild edibles. We visit her local fishmonger to see what we can
create with his daily catch from the sea. Along the way we see how she's
deviated from classic Irish recipes to add contemporary or American twists.
The Farmette Cookbookis a compilation of tried-and-true recipes with an
emphasis on local, fresh ingredients and traditional Irish kitchen skills,
which for Imen have healed homesickness and forged new friendships.

Veganism has been steadily
moving toward the mainstream as more and more people become aware of its many
benefits. Even burger-loving omnivores are realizing that adding more
plant-based foods to their diet is good for their health and the environment.Big Vegan satisfies both the casual meat eater
and the dedicated herbivore with more than 350 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegan
recipes covering breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Highlighting the plentiful
flavors that abound in natural foods, this comprehensive cookbook includes the
fundamentals for adopting a meat-free, dairy-free lifestyle, plus a resource
guide and glossary that readers can refer to time and again. Eat your veggies
and go vegan!

You'll find some of your
all-time favorite restaurant recipes in Birmingham's Best Bites. Both old and
new are featured and an easy to use format. Inspired photograph's make this a
pleasing book for any kitchen.

The sassy, country-cookin’
matriarch of the Robertson clan and star of A&E®'sDuck Dynasty® dishes up her fabulous recipes and stories in
this irresistible family cookbook.

Writing a cookbook for people who love good food
has been a lifelong dream for me—and I’m so happy to be sharing some of our
family’s favorite recipes with you! In this book you’ll find everything from
Jase’s Favorite Sweet Potato Pie to Phil’s own special recipes, like his
scrumptious Crawfish Fettuccine. There’s “girly” food for a gathering of your
best girlfriends, like Aunt Judy’s Cranberry Salad, as well as dishes straight
from the hunt like Boiled Squirrel and Dumplings.

In addition to more than one hundred specially
chosen recipes, I’ve included old family snapshots of the days before theDuck Dynasty® series on A&E® and stories of our family and
how we live. The dinner table has long been one of our favorite places for
telling stories, and there’s always competition to see who can dish out the
wildest story. We believe that food and cooking bring people together—it’s
brought our family together for generations, and it can do the same for yours.
Gather your family around the table and serve up delicious home-cooked meals
with recipes like . . .

In addition to popular favorites like Southern
Fried Chicken and Strawberry Shortcake, there are 168 new recipes attuned to
today's lifestyles, all-new chapters devoted to Canning and Freezing, ideas for
holiday celebrations, and mouthwatering new photography.And, as always, every recipe has been
triple-tested and perfected for ease, reliability, and great taste in the famedGood Housekeeping Test Kitchens.

R. W. Apple, Jr., ofThe New York Times credits third-generation Alabamian Frank Stitt
with turning Birmingham into a "sophisticated, easygoing showplace of
enticing, southern-accented cooking." His southern peers think his cooking
may have a more profound sense of place than any of theirs. His food is rustic
and homey, but sophisticated in method.

Now, Alabama's favorite son has written a
long-awaited cookbook that features his enticing Provençal-influenced southern
food. More than 150 recipes range from the traditional--Spicy Green Tomato and
Peach Relish, Spoonbread, and Pickled Shrimp--to the inspired--Slow-Roasted
Black Grouper with Ham and Pumpkin Pirlau and Pork Loin with Corn Pudding and
Grilled Eggplant. Desserts such as Bourbon Panna Cotta and Sweet Potato Tart
with Coconut Crust and Pecan Streusel elevate the best of the South for cooks
everywhere.

“Seasonality
is the cornerstone to our menu-planning success,” says Chef Chris Hastings. The Hot and Hot Fish Club Restaurant is one of the best in the South because it
only uses the finest and freshest ingredients in their recipes. From the
fresh-caught Pacific seafood flown in from Osprey Seafood in San Francisco to
the blackberries and Vidalia onions from local Garfrerick Farms of Alpine,
Alabama, Hot and Hot goes to great lengths to make sure that what goes into
every dish is always fresh and in season.

The Hot and Hot Fish
Club Cookbook contains more
than 200 creative and delicious recipes that are organized to reflect the
seasonal nature of local ingredients. It features profiles of dozens purveyors
who supply the restaurant with the freshest ingredients. With more than 50
full-color photographs, lifestyle menus complete with wine and beer pairings,
and a sourcing section, The Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook is
your guide to preparing exquisite, fresh cuisine from the hottest restaurant in
the South.

GRG met last night and had a discussion of mythic
proportions! See what I did there? Seriously, we discussed books and movies that
deal with myth, legend, storytelling, etc.
It was a wide ranging discussion from conspiracy theories of human development
to the prophecies of what humanity may be like in the future. We talked about it all! (note: all book
reviews come from Amazon or book jacket; DVD reviews from
www.rottentomatoes.com)

The summer of 1927 began with Charles Lindbergh crossing the
Atlantic. Meanwhile, Babe Ruth was closing in on the home run record. In
Newark, New Jersey, Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly sat atop a flagpole for twelve
days, and in Chicago, the gangster Al Capone was tightening his grip on
bootlegging. The first true “talking picture,” Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer,
was filmed, forever changing the motion picture industry.

All this and much, much more transpired in the year
Americans attempted and accomplished outsized things—and when the twentieth
century truly became the American century. One Summer transforms it all
into narrative nonfiction of the highest order.

A delightful collection of stirring historical tales about
Scottish kings, lairds, and chieftains from the time of King Fingal in 211 AD
to King James VI in 1611 AD. Strong through these tales of love, battle,
loyalty, misdeeds, and good deeds are the Scots’ unbending honor and steadfast
sense of humor, colorfully captured by the author in her inimitable lilting
style certain to charm readers.

Where did "modern" civilization begin? What lies
beneath the waves? Do myths describe interstellar impact? How'd they lift that
stone? Was the Ark of the Covenant a mechanical device? Were there survivors of
an Atlantean catastrophe? Who really discovered the "New" World? "Hidden history" continues to fascinate an ever
wider audience. In this massive compendium, editor Preston Peet brings together
an all-star cast of contributors to question established wisdom about the history
of the world and its civilizations. Peet and anthology contributors guide us
through exciting archaeological adventures and treasure hunts, ancient
mysteries, lost or rediscovered technologies, and assorted
"Forteana," using serious scientific studies and reports, scholarly
research, and some plain old fringe material, as what is considered
"fringe" today is often hard science tomorrow.

A decade ago, French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin became
obsessed by the centuries-old question: How was the Great Pyramid built? How,
in a nation of farmers only recently emerged from the Stone Age, could such a
massive, complex, and enduring structure have been envisioned and constructed?

Written by world-renowned Egyptologist Bob Brier in
collaboration with Houdin, The Secret of the Great Pyramid moves deftly between
the ancient and the modern, chronicling two equally fascinating interrelated
histories. It is a remarkable account of the step-by-step planning and assembling
of the magnificent edifice – the brainchild of an innovative genius, the
Egyptian architect Hemienu, who imagined, organized, and oversaw a monumental
construction project that took more than two decades to complete and that
employed the services of hundreds of architects, mathematicians, boatbuilders,
stonemasons, and metallurgists.

Mary Magdalene was the woman healed of her possession by
seven devils and was the first to see the risen Jesus on Easter Day. Was she
also the reformed prostitute who washed Jesus's feet with her tears? Was she
the sister of the raised Lazarus? Did she marry Jesus? And did she become a
leader of the early churches, despite the opposition of Simon Peter (who later
became the first pope)? For centuries Mary Magdalene has been shrouded in
mystery, but in Beloved Disciple renowned scholar Robin Griffith-Jones cuts
through the confusion to bring this extraordinary figure back to startling,
fascinating life.

Griffith-Jones examines New Testament accounts, ancient
Gnostic sources, such as the Gospel of Mary, as well as medieval and
Renaissance accounts of Mary's life and travels in the years following her
discovery of Jesus's empty tomb on Easter morning. Beloved Disciple addresses
questions about Mary and Jesus that have long stirred passionate debate, exploring
the roles and power of men and women in the early churches—issues that still
haunt the Church.

Illustrated with some of the most beautiful images of this
enigmatic figure ever produced, this book puts the tantalizing fragments of
information we have of Mary back into their original context: the vital stories
in which Mary plays a part. Beloved Disciple shows us Mary as a model of
discipleship and, through the lens of her life, offers a fresh perspective on
the New Testament gospels and the Gnostic stories, to reveal them as we have
never seen them before.

Never before in the history of medicine has mankind faced
such hope and peril as those of us poised to embrace the radical medical
technologies of today.

Eve Herold's Beyond Human examines the medical technologies
taking shape at the nexus of computing, microelectronics, engineering,
nanotechnology, cellular and gene therapies, and robotics. These technologies
will dramatically transform our lives and allow us to live for hundreds of
years. Yet, with these blessings come complicated practical and ethical issues,
some of which we can predict, but many we cannot.

Beyond Human taps the minds of doctors, scientists, and
engineers engaged in developing a host of new technologies while telling the
stories of some of the patients courageously testing the radical new treatments
about to come into the market.

Beyond Human asks the difficult questions of the
scientists and bioethicists who seek to ensure that as our bodies and brains
become ever more artificial, we hold onto our humanity. In this new world, will
everyone have access to technological miracles, or will we end up living in a
world of radical disparities? How will society accommodate life spans that
extend into hundreds of years? Will we and our descendants be able to bring
about the dream of a future liberated by technology, or will we end up merely
serving the machines and devices that keep us healthy, smart, young, and alive?

GENERAL DISCUSSION – The Children of Men by P.D. James: Told with P. D. James’s trademark suspense,
insightful characterization, and riveting storytelling, The Children of
Men is a story of a world with no children and no future. The human race
has become infertile, and the last generation to be born is now adult.
Civilization itself is crumbling as suicide and despair become commonplace.
Oxford historian Theodore Faron, apathetic toward a future without a future,
spends most of his time reminiscing. Then he is approached by Julian, a bright,
attractive woman who wants him to help get her an audience with his cousin, the
powerful Warden of England. She and her band of unlikely revolutionaries may
just awaken his desire to live . . . and they may also hold the key to survival
for the human race. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: In the world of the near future, who will
control women's bodies? Offred is a
Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and
his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures
instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on
her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because
in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued
if their ovaries are viable. Offred can
remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke;
when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of
her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now....Funny,
unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is
at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.

Who was the real John Henry? The story of this legendary
African-American figure has come down to us in so many songs, stories, and
plays, that the facts are often lost. Historian Scott Nelson brings John Henry
alive for young readers in his personal quest for the true story of
the man behind the myth. Nelson presents the famous folk song as a mystery to
be unraveled, identifying the embedded clues within the lyrics, which he
examines to uncover many surprising truths. He investigates the legend and
reveals the real John Henry in this beautifully illustrated book.

Nelson’s narrative is multilayered, interweaving the story of the building of
the railroads, the period of Reconstruction, folk tales, American mythology,
and an exploration of the tradition of work songs and their evolution into
blues and rock and roll. This is also the story of the author’s search for the
flesh-and-blood man who became an American folk hero; Nelson gives a
first-person account of how the historian works, showing history as a process
of discovery. Readers rediscover an African-American folk hero. We meet John
Henry, the man who worked for the railroad, driving steel spikes. When the
railroad threatens to replace workers with a steam-powered hammer, John Henry
bets that he can drive the beams into the ground faster than the machine. He
wins the contest, but dies in the effort. Nelson’s vibrant text, combined with archival images, brings a new perspective
and focus to the life and times of this American legend.

First published in 1866, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages
became a highly popular work and went through many editions. Edward Hardy has
skillfully edited the original lengthy text into more concise form while
carefully preserving Baring-Gould’s style and manner in the telling of these
strange and compelling myths and legends that are so much a part of the Middle
Ages. This edition is illustrated with numerous woodcuts by Albrecht Durer.

Since its original publication by Little, Brown and Company
in 1942, Edith Hamilton's Mythology has sold millions of copies throughout the
world and established itself as a perennial bestseller in its various available
formats. Mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader
the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths and legends that are the keystone of Western
culture - the stories of gods and heroes that have inspired human creativity
from antiquity to the present.

The justly famous Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
contains three volumes: The Age Of Fable -- The gods and goddesses of
Greece and Rome, as well as the mythology of the Germanic tribes, England and
the Near East; The Legend Of Charlemange -- Accounts of the reign of
the first great French Emperor, his wars and conquests; and The Age Of Chivalry --
King Arthur and his court, Lancelot and Guenever, and the death of Arthur.

A peasant hero battles a demonic underworld prince who seeks
to plunge the world into an ice age. When the evil prince captures a fair
maiden, the hero rallies an army of elves to save her, and defeat his
diabolical foe once and for all.

This film is a '90s version of the classic Robin Hood story,
with Kevin Costner starring as the good-guy thief. Costner is joined in his
efforts against the murdering Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman) by Morgan Freeman who plays a philosophizing Moor, and by Nick Brimble, who plays Little
John (anything but little). After Robin barely survives a watery skirmish with
Little John, the two become allies and Robin joins forces with Little John's
band of robber thieves to overcome the evils of the dastardly Nottingham
sheriff.

GENERAL DISCUSSION – Willow (DVD): Though Willow was one of director Ron Howard's few box-office disappointments, it definitely deserves a second look.
At once an epic celebration and a gentle spoof of the sword-and-sorcery genre,
the film concerns the efforts by little person Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) to
protect a sacred infant from the machinations of a wicked queen (Jean Marsh).
Incidentally, this is the film where co-star Val Kilmer met his
future wife Joanne Whalley. Ladyhawke (DVD): In medieval France, a young,
nebbishy pickpocket befriends a knight who has fallen under a strange curse. It
is soon up to the pickpocket to help reunite the knight and his lady love and
defeat the evil bishop behind the curse in this romantic fantasy film.

Visit us today!

The Emmet O'Neal Library, in the heart of Mountain Brook, Alabama, is one of our community's gems. In today's fast-paced world, we offer an amazing variety of resources and programs for people of all ages. In our award-winning library, you can enjoy the newest books, study an art collection online, read of ancient civilizations, learn a new language, research the latest business trends, or travel to distant worlds of the imagination.